Career Story: Sales Executive For A Temporary Employment Agency

Sales Executive For A Temporary Employment Agency

Job Title: Account Executive

Type of Company: I work for hospital temp agency. The temporary employees are all part of a worker subset known as 'allied' health which includes such positions as x-ray technologists and lab technologists but excludes nurses, physicians, clerical workers and light industrial help.

Education: BS, Economics, Worcester State College

Previous Experience: I've been in the temporary employment business for approximately fifteen years working for four different organizations.

Job Tasks: My role is sales. I work out of my home where I have an office and I telephone various contacts at hospitals to see if they might need temporary help. If they do, I enter a 'job order' into the computer where the others in my company can see it. There is a group of 10-12 people who are responsible for finding candidates for the job and after reading the job description they call their candidates to see if any of them are interested. If any of them are, they email me the resume of the candidate for my review. If I find the candidate who looks satisfactory I forward his resume to the hiring manager at the hospital. I follow up with my contact at the hospital to see if he is interested in the candidate, and if he is I set up a telephone interview and have the hospital call the candidate. After the interview I check to see how the hospital felt it went. Sometimes they will want to interview additional candidates and sometimes they will want me to make an offer to the candidate. If they are interested in the candidate I then email the person in my company who originally forwarded the resume to me and ask him to make an offer to their temporary employee. An offer will be made and the candidate will be given only 1 day to make up their mind. If they accept the position I then call the facility back and let them know the candidate is interested and I confirm the start date of the assignment. I repeat this process hundreds of times. The more offers I get the more money I make in salary.

Best and Worst Parts of the Job: The best part of the job is that I have a large amount of control over how much money I earn. The job is largely commission and the more placements I make the more I earn. I also like the satisfaction of helping a hospital find an employee who has a high skill level and performs well on the job. I dislike the repetition and monotony of calling hospitals all day long and often getting their voice mails.

Job Tips: Anyone interested in sales should look for opportunities for sales experience. Salesmanship is a cumulative experience, in that the experiences that you have now will help you become more successful in future jobs. It's never too early to start. There are a variety of books and articles on sales and a variety of sales activities that a high school student can get involved with. Additionally, an entry level sales person can find a mentor to help guide him and provide feedback.

Additional Thoughts: Salesmanship offers the advantage of high levels of compensation and many people have gone into sales and become top earners. Once in sales there is also a lot someone can do to improve and further increase his earnings. Generally speaking salesmen are likely to try a number of different jobs or situations before landing one they feel is the 'perfect' job. Therefore it is perfectly acceptable to try a certain sales job and then change to a better one if another opportunity comes along. However many of the skills are interchangeable from one job to another. It can also be extremely satisfying when the sales person is able to feel he's made a contribution to another party or could use his expertise to guide the buyer.

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What are Career Stories?

Career Stories are concise, real-world career overviews written by people relating their personal career experiences and wisdom. They provide invaluable insights and mentoring advice to students and career changers.